A world class athlete with three Paralympic Games under his belt is looking to get out in his community.
“I would like to get more involved in the community if I can,” said Okotokian Zak Madell, one of the most decorated athletes in wheelchair rugby. “And I was hoping to get involved with some different events in the area and I’m looking to be partnering with some local companies.
“If I can find some mutually beneficial relationships there where we have a business and athlete partnership where I could give them some exposure and potentially have some funding or collaborate on a project together so that we can both benefit.”
Madell, a 2012 graduate of Holy Trinity Academy where he’s inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame, moved into the city to pursue his architectural technology studies at SAIT and has since relocated back to his hometown. He was one of the two ambassadors for the rugby competition at the Alberta Summer Games last month in Okotoks along with sevens rugby national star Thomas Isherwood.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully get involved with some local businesses and collaborating on some products moving forward,” he said.
Madell, who had his legs, fingers and thumbs amputated as a 10-year-old due to a staph infection, found wheelchair rugby at the age of 16 after first trying out sledge hockey and wheelchair basketball.
The 29-year-old has been a fixture in international wheelchair rugby since bursting onto the scene at the 2012 Paralympic Games, helping lead Canada to a silver medal finish in London as its leading scorer.
At both the 2014 World Championships and 2015 World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge he was the MVP and went on to lead Canada to gold on home soil at the 2015 Parapan Am Games where the Okotokian earned the opportunity to be the flag bearer for the closing ceremonies.
He’s since represented Canada at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games, where the Canucks finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
It’s once again a championships cycle for Canada’s Paralympic athletes.
This year alone, Madell and the sixth-ranked Team Canada will travel to Denmark for an exhibition series, make a jaunt to Paris to be part of the Rugby World Cup festivities and descend upon Chile for the 2023 Parapan Am Games in Santiago.
The gold medal team at the Parapan Am Games earns an automatic berth into the 2024 Paralympic Summer Games in Paris.
“That will be a good last-minute event to see how the team is looking,” Madell said. “That is a sanctioned event so there will be some world ranking points in Paris, but the big one is Chile because that’s our first qualifying opportunity for Paralympics.”
In the future outside of the sporting realm, Madell will be pursuing his passion for accessibility, the driving force for him getting involved in studying in the architecture field.
“I didn’t want to be starting a career when I’m going to be gone probably a week every month,” he said. “It didn’t seem like it would be feasible trying to balance all of that, but that still is the plan. I would like to get involved in making the world more accessible, that’s kind of my dream.
“That’s a big part of why I got into architecture, just trying to hopefully make this country a little more usable for everybody.”
For more information, contact Madell at 403-909-1599, [email protected] and visit zakmadell.com.
